Looking for some advice about recovering bank charges. My fiancee's mum opened a bank account last year for the sole purpose of dealing with her direct debits and which also included two new insurance policies set up through the bank. In the first month the bank took off initial payments that were not explained to her and her account went overdrawn by about 4 quid which has resulted in her paying back unauthorized overdraft charges coming close to 400 pounds in the last year. Bank have admitted its their mistake but wouldn't refund the charges and set up an overdraft limit for her to pay this back overtime. She's on a limited income and has not managed to pay this back, although I don't think she should have to!
Well I wrote another letter for her worded very strongly and threatning to go to the financial ombudsman if the charges weren't refunded in full. Well a day after sending the letter she gets a phone call saying they will cancel all outstanding charges but won't refund any of the overpayments she made, the guy also suggested she would be wasting her time taking it to the financial ombudsman as it would take too long
So my question is, has anybody ever taken up a matter with the ombudsman and has it been worthwhile? She's inclined to accept the offer of removing the current overdrawn amount as its been nothing but a pain in the ass for the last year but she's still out of pocket by a few hundred pounds because of their error which they admit too.

